By Dan Rowinski | Comments Off on Shorthanded miracle clinches playoffs for Bruins

Summary — Boston used a miraculous shorthanded burst to start the second period to put away the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 in a Saturday matinee game at TD Garden to finally earn a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Tuukka Rask got the win for the Bruins with 33 saves while Cam Ward was solid for the entire game except the first two minutes of the second period to take the loss.

The Bruins scored three shorthanded goals on the same penalty kill to start the second period (Hunwick, hooking 19:42 of first) in a span of 1:04.l Daniel Paille was the first to crack the board when took the puck through Ward’s crease, pivot-turned and fired back on net at :32 to make it 1-0 Boston.

Blake Wheeler got in on the action next when he found a rebound off the stick of David Krejci in the slot in front Ward at 1:21. Wheeler banged it back into the net for the two-goal advantage. Paille’s fellow penalty killer, Steve Begin, decided that he would turn it into a troika 15-seconds later when he shot from the right face off circle with enough vigor that Ward could not contain it and it bounced off his chest pads, over his shoulder and into the net at 1:36.

It was the first time since 1985 and perhaps that Boston has had two goals on a penalty kill and perhaps the only time in history where they have done it three times. The 1:04 it took to score the goals was the fastest that it has been done all season and the fastest three goals for the Bruins since :52 on Dec. 20, 2001 against Montreal.

But the game was not done there just because the Bruins did something spectacular. Carolina clawed back to make it a contest, starting when Erik Cole picked up his 10th of the season by knocking down Rask’s door right in front of the crease at 14:30 in the second. Patrick Dwyer would make it a one-goal game three minutes later when he skated through the slot and went back against the grain on Rask with a wrist shot to make it 3-2 at 17:30.

Boston came out of the gates hot in the first period as they rained 10 shots on Ward in the first five minutes but were unable to crack the goaltender in the opening frame. The momentum see-sawed back to Carolina later in the period as the Canes took their chances on Rask to try and even the shot count and getting close at 18-14 at the start of the second.

Milan Lucic added an empty-net goal with a minute left for the final tally.

The game was an official sellout, the 24th consecutive official sellout for the team this year and 25th overall (counting the Winter Classic at Fenway). The last non-sellout for the Bruins was on Dec. 2, 2009 against Tampa Bay.

Three Stars

Daniel Paille — The forward has been Boston’s spark on the penalty kill all season and was rewarded during the last home game of the year as he and his fellow shorthanded mates broke through in spectacular fashion. In addition to scoring the first goal he added a secondary assist to Begin’s strike.

Steve Begin — In an ode to the Bruins great year of penalty killing, Begin earned his 100th NHL point with his goal and teamed with Paille to kill all the Hurricanes power play chances.

Blake Wheeler — The young forward broke out of a scoring slump for his 18th of the year. Wheeler had not scored since March 15 against the Devils.

Turning Point — Who would have thought that the Bruins would turn on a penalty AGAINST them? Matt Hunwick took a slashing call at the 19:42 mark of the first period, thus giving the Hurricanes a man-advantage to start the second. Boston then turned around and scored three goals to start the second for all the offense they would need to win the game and clinch a playoff spot.

Key Play — A Boston opportunity almost turned into a disaster in the third period. Carolina’s Jerome Samson was going to be called for a high-sticking penalty but the Hurricanes had not gained possession of the puck. The delayed penalty meant that the Bruins could pull Rask for an extra attacker, thus leaving the net empty. An errant back pass by the Bruins bounced off the wall in neutral zone and straight at the empty net, a goal that would be the game-tying striking if it crossed the plain. Patrice Bergeron gathered a head of steam and chased the puck down, catching it right as it as about to go across the line and whip-clearing it back down the left wing out of danger. The play was reviewed to make sure that the puck did not indeed cross the line and the verdict of no-goal was upheld.

Boston came of the dressing room to start the second period and decided to just flat out set Cam Ward on fire. It scored three goals in 1:04, tallied by Daniel Paille, Blake Wheeler and Steve Begin, in that order at :32, 1:21 and 1:36.

Oh, and all of them came on the penalty kill.

Paille got the first on a hustle play when he found took a zone-clearing pass from Zdeno Chara and kept his legs moving down the right wing, marching straight to and through Ward’s crease, turning back and firing to give the animated TD Garden crowd something to cheer about. It was Paille’s 10th of the season.

Before the public address announcer could finish telling the crowd the details of Paille’s goal, Wheeler found a rebound in the slot off of a David Krejci shot that he banged back home to make it 2 -0. Steve Begin wanted in on the party after that and found the puck on the right circle and shot into Ward’s chest protector. The goaltender could not put it down and it bounced over his pads into the net to make an already jubilant crowd absolutely giddy.

A couple notes on the three shorted-handed goals:

3 — The total of short-handed goals that the Bruins had all season before three in the same penalty kill.

1:04 — Fastest the Bruins have scored three goals this season and fastest three goals the team has scored since :52 on Dec. 20, 2001 against the Canadiens. The fastest the Bruins have scored three this season was on Dec. 23 against Atlanta in 1:08.

25 – Years since it has been that Boston has scored multiple goals on the same penalty kill after scoring two against Toronto on Jan. 9, 1985.

Carolina went on the power play again at 12:18 when Milan Lucic went for a trip. Neither team was able to tally on this penalty though it did give Carolina some momentum as Erik Cole would be Tuukka Rask on the doorstep of his crease to make it 3-1 at 14:30.

The Canes then cut the lead to one at 17:06 when Patrick Dwyer put up his seventh of the season when he crossed through the slot and went back against the grain with a wrist shot to beat Rask far side and make the game a contest once again.

Boston had a power play at 17:20 when Carolina center Eric Staal took at slashing penalty. The Bruins can apparently score at will when they are a man down but are utterly impotent while a man up as yet another power play fizzled out. Boston is now 0 for its last 20 man-advantage opportunities and 3 for their last 46.

-The Bruins can clinch a playoff spot with a point against either Carolina or Washington.

-The Bruins can clinch the No. 6 seed with a Montreal loss against Toronto on Saturday night and a combination of two points against the Hurricanes and Capitals (a win or two overtime points).

– The Bruins can clinch the No. 7 seed with a combination of two points combined with a Canadiens win.

-The Bruins can clinch the No. 8 seed with a single point on Saturday or Sunday and the Rangers/Flyers games does not go into overtime.

– The Bruins would take the N0. 8 seed with two losses only if Sunday’s Ranger/Flyers game does not go into overtime earning the loser a point.

-The Bruins would not make the playoffs with two losses and the Rangers/Flyers game on Sunday does go into overtime.

Right now the Bruins and Canadiens each have 87 points. Montreal holds the tie-breaker because they have more wins and also won the head-to-head season series. The Rangers and Flyers have 86 points apiece and play each other in Philadelphia on Sunday. Boston would lose any tie-breaker against the four remaining teams because they would end up with fewer wins.

By Dan Rowinski | Comments Off on First period summary: Bruins vs. Hurricanes

It was pretty obvious from the start that the Bruins want to wrap up their playoff spot against the Hurricanes on Saturday and not leave anything to fate.

The puck lived in the Carolina zone so long in the first half of the first period that it had time to build its own system of igloo villages in front of Canes’ goaltender Cam Ward. The Bruins put up 10 shots before the six-minute mark and went on two early power plays (Drayson Bowman, slashing 1:39, Chad LaRose, tripping 6:16) as a result of their aggressive play. As has become the common theme the last month-and-a-half, neither of those man-advantage opportunities resulted in an actual goal, but they did serve to keep momentum on the side of the Boston.

The Bruins did serve a little bit of that momentum back later in the period starting when rookie defenseman Adam McQuaid went to the box for hooking at 8:51 and the Canes started turning the pace of play into a more even affair by the end of the period but overall Boston held the advantage over their foes from Tabacco Road with an 18-14 shot advantage.

The Hurricanes will start the second period on the power play as defenseman Matt Hunwick took a hooking penalty at 19:42.

WILMINGTON — The equation has become pretty simple — The Bruins won on Thursday therefore any Rangers regulation loss guarantees Boston a playoff spot. There was a lot of talk yesterday about what type of scenarios would have to play out this weekend for Boston to make (or not make) the playoffs but it really just boils down to counting points. Boston has a three point lead over the ninth spot, the Rangers only have the potential to gain four points and start a home-and-home against the starting Friday.

The eyes of the Hub will be keenly attuned to Madison Square Garden tonight but there is more at stake for the Bruins than just a playoff birth this weekend. Head coach Claude Julien alluded to the fact after practice at Ristuccia Arena on Friday that the Bruins are also looking at playoff positioning as much as just making the tournament.

“It is a matter of sticking with it. Not just the fact that you get into the playoffs, but, where do you want to be in that situation?” Juliend said. “We’ve got an opportunity right now to be anywhere from sixth to ninth and we have to recognize that and we have to win as many games as we can.”

Practice was loose on Friday and the feeling around the Bruins is that they are really taking to the example set by veteran Mark Recchi when he says that being in the midst of an NHL playoff race should be fun. Players were whooping and hollering on the rink as they continually messed up one of Julien’s drills and gave a rousing applause when a unit got it right. Make no mistake about it though, the Bruins may be loose but the cord of tension that has been tightening around the team since the Olympic break is as tight as it has ever been.

“The biggest mistake is for [the sense of urgency] to be lessened,” coach Claude Julien said. “Two points guarantees us a playoff spot but those two games coming up, Carolina, I just watched them last night against Montreal, they are playing pretty well. They are playing loose and playing well and they got a pretty good goaltender that keeps them in the game. I don’t think that anything is a given but we have an opportunity to watch a game tonight that may, or may not give us the answer that we want.”

Miroslav Satan Putting It Together

Forward Miroslav Satan has come on for the Bruins of late, scoring the game-winning goal among his two strikes last Saturday against Toronto and tying the game on Thursday after teaming with David Krejci to create a turnover on the forecheck and marching straight in on Sabres’ goaltender Patrick Lalime.

Satan now has nine goals, three in the last week, in 36 games for the Bruins after missing the first half of the season before signing with Boston. He has gone stretches during his stay in the Hub where he has not been a factor but has proved to be good for the Bruins in the games that have mattered most.

“I think that was a good pickup by us,” Julien said. “For what he has given us he has certainly been good. You know, he has always had good hands and has been a guy who has scored a lot of goals in this league and you know, again, his experience yesterday when he just took it to the net, those are the things that we have been talking about a lot and he finds those holes and he finds ways to score goals in those situations.”

“I like what he has brought to our team. To me he has gotten better as he has played here and for a guy who didn’t play the first half of the year to have, I think it is nine goals right now is pretty good for a team challenged to score to start with,” Julien said.

The Bruins forecheck was active on Thursday and led to Satan and David Krejci breaking the puck loose off the half wall where Satan could take it straight to the net and the game-tying goal on a backhand. Since Julien changed the lines to give Krejci new wing mates the unit with Satan and Marco Sturm has been aggressive on the forecheck and has given the Bruins some scoring opportunities that may have not been present otherwise.

“The fact that we are aggressive creates turnovers and when players like Krejci and Satan create a turnover a turnover and are going in on net you are pretty comfortable because those guys are pretty crafty,” Julien said.

By Dan Rowinski | Comments Off on Bruins foil Sabres, take step closer to playoffs

Summary — Boston took a big step towards the playoffs on Thursday with a 3-1 win over the Sabres at TD Garden. Boston now leads the idle Rangers by three points for the final playoff spot as each team has two games in the regular season.

Tuukka Rask got the start for the Bruins and was his usual solid self in turning away 31 shots for the victory. The Bruins may have thought they had dodged a bullet when Buffalo started backup goaltender Patrick Lalime over All-Star Ryan Miller but he backstop was solid and contributed to Boston’s goal-scoring frustration with a steady 31 saves in the loss.

Dennis Wideman got the game-winner for Boston at 1:59 in the third period with a blast from the point that had eyes through Lalime towards the back of the net. It was Wideman’s sixth of the year.

The Bruins found a familiar refrain at 11:00 in the first period. Wideman could not control the puck off the wall in neutral ice and lost it for a breakaway by Derek Roy. The defenseman could not recover and Roy had an easy time picking his spot, high glove side, against Rask for the opening goal of the game.

Boston came back early in the second. Miroslav Satan found himself in a small scrum on the half wall in the Bruins offensive zone against two Sabres and lost control of the puck but got enough stick on it to keep it live. David Krejci circled around from behind the goal line to keep the puck in play, hit a touch pass to back to Satan who skated into Lalime’s crease and put a backhander home at 2:15.

Zdeno Chara [Mark Recchi] gave the Bruins the breathing-room goal late in the third period on a one-time blast from the corner on a pass from Milan Lucic at the left point that deflected off of Recchi and overpowered Lalime at to make it 3-1 at 16:35.

Three Stars

Miroslav Satan — The veteran forward tied the game in the second period with his ninth of the season for the Bruins.

Derek Roy — The Sabres center was pesky presence all night and was rewarded for his efforts in the first period when he plundered Wideman and took his booty to the net to beat Rask for the opening goal of the game.

Tuukka Rask — the statistical league leading netminder did his thing in shutting down the Sabres to keep the Bruins in the game and give them a position to claim points to be applied to their playoff pursuit.

Turning Point — When Wideman redeemed himself early in the third. He stood up a little short of the right point and time his shot perfectly with the screening body of Blake Wheeler to catch Lalime in a blind moment for his sixth of the season and game-winning goal.

Key Play — A lot of good Rask saves to choose from. One of the most important was a point blank shot from Sabres’ forward Tyler Ennis that was unleashed two feet in front of the crease that Rask stoned cold with a little more than a minute to play in the second period. Had Ennis been able to score and Buffalo entered the third period with a goal lead, the dynamic of the final frame would have been much different as Boston would have had a more aggressive (riskier) offensive attack as opposed to playing tighter defense with the lead.

UPDATE — There was a scoring change on the Bruins third goal after the game with the tally being awarded to forward Mark Recchi on a deflection from Chara’s shot. The goal was Recchi’s 18th of the year.

Just when things were starting to go so well on the ice for Dennis Seidenberg an odd injury forces him to watch the rest of the season from the press box.

Seidenberg will miss eight weeks with a lacerated flexor carpi radialis tendon in his left forearm which he had surgery to fix on Tuesday and expressed disappointment that his time with in Boston may be coming to a premature end. The defenseman was picked up by the Bruins on the March 3 NHL Trade Deadline from Florida along with Matt Bartowski for Craig Weller, Byron Bitz and a second round draft pick and played in 17 games with two goals and seven assists. Seidenberg’s 215 blocked shots between the Panthers and Boston lead the NHL.

Seidenberg cut the tendon in his forearm last Saturday in the first period against Toronto at Air Canada Centre. Initially he did not think the cut was that bad but after skating on Tuesday morning at Ristuccia realized that something was definitely wrong with the area and went to see a doctor. The news of a torn tendon came as a surprise.

“Well, I went through knowing something was wrong because it was really painful, I wasn’t just going there in passing,” Seidenberg said. “I was expecting something to be wrong with it but not expecting for the tendon to be torn and to have surgery was even more surprising so it was disappointing and tough to hear.”

Seidenberg does not expect the rehabilitation to be all that strenuous and sounded like a man who had been through similar injuries before. His arm was in a cast on Thursday and he said that it will stay there for four weeks before starting exercises to regain his range of motion.

“Usually a tendon takes four weeks to heal and after that you just get the motion back and get the strength back and everything. It is an easy rehabbing process,” Seidenberg said. “It could be worse. It is just a regular tendon tear and the rehab should be easy.”

Now that his time in Boston has just about come to and end, Seidenberg was asked what he thought about his time in the Hub and if he wanted to stay. Since arriving he has played exclusively as the No. 2 defenseman paired with captain Zdeno Chara and has been a solidifying presence on the blue line in lieu of Derek Morris who was traded to Phoenix the day Seidenberg was acquired. He said that he has not yet been approached by Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli but that he would hope to hear from him soon to start discussing a possible future with the team.

“No, it has been pretty quiet. The last couple of days have been about finding out about my wrist and so hopefully soon something will start to happen,” Seidenberg said. “It has been good. I am playing lots and I couldn’t ask for anything more. I think I fit in nicely and I hope I stay here.”